Elderly man freezes to death in home

[SWTXBelle]

What's going to happen in all those places who are without power, and are expected to be without power for some time, due to the storm??

[VandalSquirrel]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

What's going to happen in all those places who are without power, and are expected to be without power for some time, due to the storm??

I know that many communities have emergency plans in place, and those who cannot survive that situation are brought to temporary/emergency shelters (high school gyms, church basements, so on).

[aggieAXO]

This is why I well never leave the south, I hate being cold. I keep my apt about 70 during the day and 74 at night. I just visited a friend in Durango Co and she had the thermostat set in the 50's-I was so uncomfortable i could barely sleep. If it is less than 40 degrees outside I will not go out (unless i gotta go to work).

[AGDee]

The truth of the matter is, aggie, your body does experience physiological changes that help you deal with the cold. At the beginning of winter, 25 degrees feels really cold. By this time of winter, 25 feels balmy outside because we've adjusted to temps between 0-15. Besides that, we dress for the cold. We wear layers and coats and gloves and hats. Most of us would have a hard time sleeping if it was in the 50's in our homes, trust me! We don't spend a lot of time outside in the winter. However, I can honestly say that if the outside temp is over 85, I find it extremely uncomfortable and don't want to be outside at those times either!

One of my best friends from high school moved to Texas for several years. She said "It's not that different from living in Michigan. In Michigan, we don't go outside much for about 3 months due to cold. In Texas, we don't go outside much for about 3 months due to the 100 degree heat. The difference is, during those three months in Michigan, the kids are in school. In Texas, it's summer and the kids are stir crazy in the house!" She's back in Michigan now!

[Munchkin03]

Did anyone hear that his family finally surfaced, and are angry at the utility company? One of his nephews is all, "we hadn't spoken in a year." He also observed that his uncle had his bill envelopes filled with the correct amount of cash for each bill.

[DaemonSeid]

Originally Posted by Munchkin03

Did anyone hear that his family finally surfaced, and are angry at the utility company? One of his nephews is all, "we hadn't spoken in a year." He also observed that his uncle had his bill envelopes filled with the correct amount of cash for each bill.

Some excerpts in an updated article:

One of the saddest things of all was that Schur appeared to have plenty of money, and, in fact, one of the neighbours who entered the home reported seeing cash clipped to a pile of bills on the kitchen table. Schur's nephew suggested the old man's mind may have been slipping.


City Electric Light & Power did not contact Schur face-to-face to notify him of the device and explain how it works, instead following its usual policy by leaving a note on the door. But neighbours said Schur rarely, if ever, left the house in the cold.



The medical examiner is looking into whether Schur suffered from dementia, particularly after police found enough cash lying around in the home to cover his bills. His nephew William Walworth said Schur told him two years ago he had $600,000 in savings.



Michigan's big, state-regulated utilities are not allowed to shut off power to senior citizens in the winter and must offer payment plans to the poor. State regulators also discourage the use of limiters. But Michigan's 41 smaller municipal utilities - Bay City's included - are not overseen by the state.

Link

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by Munchkin03

Did anyone hear that his family finally surfaced, and are angry at the utility company? One of his nephews is all, "we hadn't spoken in a year." He also observed that his uncle had his bill envelopes filled with the correct amount of cash for each bill.

It makes it especially heartbreaking to me to know he had the money. ETA: I'm not sure why knowing that it was simply his mental faculties slipping is sadder to me, but it is. This was so preventable on so many different levels.

There's no way that it's the power companies fault in my mind since they aren't in the social services business and it would be inappropriate to expect them to come to people's homes to collect bills every month. Someone should have helped this guy if not the nephew, someone in the community.

If it turns out he really did have 600,000 in savings and the nephew gets it. . . .argh.

[DaemonSeid]

WW II vet leaves money to local hospital

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

There's no way that it's the power companies fault in my mind since they aren't in the social services business and it would be inappropriate to expect them to come to people's homes to collect bills every month. Someone should have helped this guy if not the nephew, someone in the community.

By providing a public service, utility companies--both public and private--are, in a way, "in the social services business." It's not as if they're preventing credit cards from cutting off charging privileges to people who can't pay! It's not good public policy to cut off power during the winter in Michigan to 93-year olds. Apparently, the state utilities feel the same way; many private utilities have something in place already.

I'm glad the money went to the hospital and not the guy's sorry ass nephew.

[SWTXBelle]

http://parispi.net/articles/2009/01/...c242233072.txt


eta - Greek connection - Murray State University is now closed.